The Fall
by Admetus
Summary: While out hunting Kili is injured. Fili must get his brother back to safety. (Just a really short story.) xx


The dwarf looked back over his shoulder at his brother and grinned. He was stood on a cliff high above a fast flowing river. It was a wet rainy day and they had been hunting a deer when it had jumped over the river and now they could see it grazing happily just through a narrow belt of trees on the opposite bank. Neither of them wanted to go back to camp and tell the others they had failed to catch anything again. They were running low on food and needed to replenish their supplies but they had not been able to find anything even vaguely edible for the past four days. About half an hour ago they had spotted the small, thin deer and tracked it through the forest but it had caught sight of them and fled.

"Kili, don't be stupid you'll never jump that," the older dwarf said weighing up the distance to the other bank,"We'll just have to tell them we couldn't find anything." He sighed at the thought of more stale bread for supper. If they had only half a roll each they would have enough to last them till tomorrow.

With a last longing look at the deer Kili turned to follow Fili back to camp. As he went to step down from the rocks his foot slipped on some slimy moss and he lost his balance. Before he could react he toppled over the edge towards the water far below.

Fili who was already walking away heard a yell and turned back to see no sign of his younger brother. "Kili!", he shouted and sprinted to look down at the river. Quite a way below him a ledge of rock stuck out over the river. Kili was lying across it right by the edge. Fili stared down in horror. He couldn't see the extent of the injuries from that far above Kili, all he could see was that

he seemed to be unconscious but he was definitely still breathing. Fili considered what he should do. It only took a second to decide: there was no way he would have time to run back to camp for help, Kili might fall. He would just have to climb down himself.

Carefully Fili lent further out. He could see a number of good footholds so he scrambled over the edge and began his descent. To begin with there were plenty of good hand- and footholds so it was an easy climb but the lower Fili got the smoother the rock face seemed to become. He had to go very slowly because the stone was wet and slippery and he couldn't risk falling and landing on Kili or worse going into the river. It was a struggle not to imagine what might have happened and not to think about Kili lying below him hurt. He couldn't face the thought of loosing his little brother. Pushing the image of Kili not recovering from his mind, Fili concentrated on where to put his hands and feet. Time seemed creep by as he inched his way lower and lower until his foot finally meet with the broad shelf of rock his brother was lying on.

Hurrying across to Kili his brother made himself calmly asses the extent of damage the fall had caused. He could see Kili had hit his head when he fell but there was no blood or swelling. Fili carefully checked his brother for other injuries. Fortunately Kili didn't seem to have broken any bones. He had taken the skin off his left arm probably rubbing in against the cliff and he had a nasty cut on his left leg. Fili ripped a piece off his shirt and tied it tightly round the cut like a bandage.

"Can you hear me, Kili?", Fili asked anxiously crouching beside the injured dwarf. There wasn't much he could do without getting Kili back to camp so he knew he would have to somehow get them both back up. Trying to ignore his fear for Kili, Fili examined the wall he had just come down. It would be difficult to climb back up again but he thought he could do it if he was very careful. He would have to carry Kili, making climbing very difficult and dangerous but he didn't see any other options. It was unlikely anybody would find them down there even if the others did come looking for them any time soon.

Lifting Kili very gently onto his back he reached up and began to make his way slowly back to safety. If he thought it was hard getting down Fili found it almost impossible to move upwards. He had to shuffle sideways to find footholds but that meant he was now above the drop straight into the river. His arms ached after just a few minutes and Kili was making it hard to move properly.

They were nearly at the top when Fili's right hand slipped off the rock and they almost fell. Cursing Fili managed to grab hold of a tree root sticking out over the edge. Kili slipped and Fili had to let go of the rock with his left hand to grab him by the back of the coat. They were now hanging by only one hand Fili struggled to find a foothold higher up to step on. Eventually as his arms were about to give way he found a step and pulled himself up panting and out of breath. He put Kili carefully down on the grass and sat down beside him. He was totally exhausted after the long hard climb and was worried by the fact that Kili had not yet woken up. Only allowing himself to rest for a second Fili picked up his brother again and began the long trek through the trees to find the others.

It was hard work pushing through the tangled undergrowth and trying not to trip over roots and fallen branches while carrying somebody. Fili stumbled on through the trees as fast as he could go. All he could think of was Kili and how he had let him down by not looking after him better. He knew this was silly but couldn't stop himself from giving himself the blame for the accident.

It took much longer to get back than he had thought when he set off but Fili was very relieved to hear voices talking quietly ahead of him. As soon as the others saw him carrying Kili they bombarded him with questions. They wanted to know what had happened and when Fili told them they wanted to know if Kili was seriously hurt. Fortunately this was not the case as when Fili put Kili down he groaned and opened his eyes. At first they couldn't make him understand what had happened but after a while he remembered slipping even if he couldn't remember being rescued.

Leaving the other dwarves looking after their recovering friend Thorin dragged Fili a little way into the trees. "How could you let a stupid accident like this happen to him?", Thorin demanded,"You were supposed to be looking after him."

Fili shook his head sadly. "He just slipped. I was too far away to catch him."

"You have to be more careful! I don't want to lose either of you. Particularly not because of an accident that could have been prevented if you had been being more careful!"

"I'm very sorry." Fili looked so miserable that Thorin felt sorry for him and put an arm round his shoulders. Perhaps he was being just a little too harsh. After all it wasn't Fili's fault. He had done his best to look after his brother. This was such a typical thing to happen to Kili, he was never careful enough. Thorin resolved to talk to him about it when he had recovered.

"We're just lucky nothing serious happened this time. You did very well carrying him up that cliff and bringing him back to camp." Thorin smiled at his nephew. "If your alright I'd like you to go out again and look for some food." Thorin thought it was probably a good idea to give Fili something to do to stop him from sitting and feeling guilty.

Fili nodded and made his way back into the forest. After days of finding no animals Fili couldn't believe his luck when he caught several rabbits. He was feeling better by the time he got back to camp with the food which was greeted with cheers and found Kili sitting up and laughing about how silly the accident had been.

The dwarves had a delicious meal that evening and in the morning Kili was well enough for them to continue on their journey without incident.


End file.
